“He’s a smart guy. He is intelligent. He’s been through this many, many times. And he is what is referred to in Yiddish as ‘human,'” said Mr. Bergstein, 70, who supports Mr. Biden. “Unfortunately, his opponent doesn’t have that ability.”
Still, Mr. Bergstein expressed some concerns about how others might perceive the president’s age.
“The only thing I worry about is that sometimes I think people don’t listen and just look. So, whatever, Biden is 80 years old and is not running. He’s leaving,” he said. “You know, I do that too sometimes.”
Mr. Trump has also spent months deriding Mr. Biden as a weak and incompetent debater. In May, he called Mr. Biden “the WORST debater I have ever met. “He can’t put two sentences together!”
But in recent days he has tried to reset some of those expectations. Last week, he called Mr. Biden a “worthy debater” and praised Mr. Biden’s performance in vice-presidential debates against Paul Ryan in 2012.
Samuel Palmer, a retiree from Nampa, Idaho, said he expected Mr. Trump to be “extremely well prepared” for the debate. But he worries about the format, which does not include an audience and the rule that requires each candidate’s microphone to be muted when it is not their turn to speak. In recent days, the Trump campaign has attacked the debate moderators, two veteran CNN journalists, accusing them of biased coverage of Mr. Trump in the past.
“Because the debate moderators have such control over how the whole thing is going to play out, I think he’s at a little bit of a disadvantage in some ways,” said Palmer, 68, in support of Mr. Trump. “But he is more than capable of delivering what I hope will be an extremely successful and objective performance.”
Camille Baker contributed reporting.
Source link
2024-06-27 12:50:42
www.nytimes.com
